Missing Files
by Agent Striker
Summary: Nancy and the Hardy Boys are starting their own detective agency. Things go well until a bunch of old files, a man in black, & a body complicates matters. Did I mention there's a lost million dollars? And the chance to solve a murder AND a robbery?
1. The News and The Trouble

First Case: Missing Files: Chapter 1: News and Trouble

Nancy Drew stared at the clock hanging on tried gray wall of the classroom. Criminology was usually her favorite class but, on a Friday afternoon with an exciting weekend ahead she could barley concentrate.

It didn't help that the "exciting" guest speaker was an 80 year old desk sergeant who thought a woman's place was in the home, not in any form law enforcement. Well, expect as a secretary.

The officer was going on about some "dangerous" cases he had solved in the past. "The suspect was going a good 25 miles and hour" the cop went on, "when I shot his tires out!" The cop, Oscar McDean, paused as if waiting for the whole class to erupt in applause.

_I solved more dangerous cases in my sleep! Plus didn't he say he was a desk sergeant? _Nancy thought rolling her eyes.

Again she glanced at the clock. Only 25 more minutes until freedom!!! She smiled at the plans for the weekend. Nancy and her two close friends, the Hardy brothers were going to look at offices to house their new detective agency, _Hardy, Drew and Hardy Detectives Inc. _ Frank, who had graduated in December, had flown up to Chicago the week before to start the search.

As for Joe, that was another story. He had flown up on Wednesday (after bribing a friend to take all his notes for him) to help Frank in the search. But Frank said Joe had done a lot more flirting than real work. That thought made Nancy smile. Joe was the biggest flirt in history.

For the third time Nancy glanced at the clock. 2:45. Only 15 minutes, she might as well put it to good use.

Nancy pulled out a clean sheet of paper and started thinking about interesting slogans.

_**Hardy Drew and Hardy will hang out all your dirty laundry!**_

_Yuck, no way. It makes it sound like a dry cleaners! _The strawberry blonde girl thought.

_**Hardy, Hardy and Drew are always here for you!**_

_Now it sounds like an insurance company!_

_**Hardy, Drew and Hardy, we are here to clean up the party!**_

_Nope!_

_Well, _she thought _I can do this later._ Just 5 more minutes! Just as Nancy turned her attion back to Sergeant McDean she felt her phone vibrate.

_Text! Maybe it's Frank! _ As Nancy pulled out her phone Sergeant McDean looked over at her.

"What are you doing young lady?" he asked looking at her suspiciously.

"Nothing sir," Nancy answered

"You going into law enforcement?" he asked like it was a really weird thing for a woman to do.

"Yes and no sir," Nancy started

"Oh, you're going to be a secretary, good choice." McDean finished for her. Snickers arose from the people who knew Nancy really well.

"I am a private detective," Nancy said coolly. "And this lecture was over 2 minutes ago, Sorry to rush off but, I have a plane to catch." Nancy stood up and grabbed her jacket and backpack.

As she calmly walked toward the door she felt her phone buzz again. As soon as she was out the door she pulled out her phone to look at the messages. The first read:

_Nancy-_

_Please call me!_

_Frank _

She laughed, Frank never abbreviated anything. The second one was also from Frank:

_Hello!!!! Are you there????_

As Nancy walked toward the door she dialed Frank's number. _Riiiiiiing! Riiiiin- _Frank picked up half way through the second ring.

"That took long enough! What happened did you lose your phone again?" Frank asked

"Sorry, I was in class!" Nancy answered "What's up?"

"I think I found the perfect place!" Frank said and in the background Nancy heard Joe protest, "Hey I was there to!"

"Yea," Frank answered "You were flirting with the real estate agent the whole time!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Guys," Nancy interrupted "Tell me more about the office!"

"Well, it has one big office space, a bathroom and a file room. Plus, it's already furnished." Frank responded.

In the background Joe was saying "It's on the 11th flood and it has great views and it has a room full of old files for us to clean out."

"What are the files from?" Nancy asked.

"From the detective agency that was here about 5 years ago" Joe answered "That's what Heather said"

"Heather is the real estate agent." Frank cut in, "And Joe's newest girl friend."

Nancy laughed "Has the office been empty for all 5 years?"

"Yep, apparently the old owner just died and his family put up for sale. For a really good price too." Frank said "When are you coming up Nan?"

"On the 3 o'clock" Nancy answered "So I should get going."

"Okay, see you at the airport." Frank said

"Bye" Nancy closed her phone. _It might be fun looking at old cases. You just never know._

And little did she know what those files would lead to.


	2. The Office

**A/N Hi this is Striker!!! How did you like ch. 1? This is before Frank calls/texts Nancy. Thanks to Denise Allen for being the first reviewer! Should I have the characters narrate? Hmmmmmm…. (Don't own anything!!! Forgot that on 1****st**** Ch.)**

"This the place, son?" the cab driver asked as he pulled up to a curb in front of a slightly dilapidated office building.

"Yes this is the place" Joe Hardy said as he and his older brother Frank got out of the taxi.

"That'll be $9.95, kid" the cabbie held out his hand and Joe put a ten in his palm.

"You can keep the change, consider it your tip." Joe smiled as he turned toward the door.

"Great tipper" the cabbie mumbled as he pulled away from the curb.

Frank laughed as he followed his brother to the door. The ancient looking doorman slowly pulled back the dirty glass doors. "See it even has a doorman!" Joe said "This place is perfect!" Frank rolled his eyes as the 2 brothers walked toward a tired old elevator in an even more tried lobby.

"Are you sure about this place, Joe?" Frank asked his younger brother.

"Yea, it's only a little run down. Don't be put off by the lobby; Heather said the offices are in great condition." Joe smiled as his pushed the call button on the elevator.

"Heather, this and Heather, that Joe, I swear all you think about is girls!" Frank tapped his foot impatiently.

"It's not nice to swear Frank!" Joe's grin faded as they elevator had still not arrived.

"What's taking this thing so long; we have been waiting for 10 minutes!" Joe said "Let's take the-" He was cut of by the sound of the elevator arriving.

"Elevator man is comin' on Monday." An old wrinkled woman said from behind the front desk.

"Oh, thanks," Frank said as he stepped onto the elevator. To Joe he said "I hope this thing can carry both of us."

"You worry too much," Joe pushed the 11th button. The ride was a lot faster then the Hardys imagined.

As they stepped on to the 11th floor Frank said "Well little brother which way is it?" The long hallway stretched far beyond the eye in both directions.

"To the right," the younger Hardy answered, "7th door with green lettering on it."

"Green?"

"Green." Joe and Frank walked to the door.

"_Slagel and McDean Detectives_" Frank read aloud as Joe put the key into the lock. He smiled as the door swung to revel an amazing office.

The beige carpet under foot was fairly new and the whole room smelled of new paint. There were 3 mahogany desks pushed up against the far wall. A small sofa table and the desk chairs sat to the right. The window binds were open and the views of Lack Michigan were spectacular. The open door on the right proved to be a bathroom but the door to the left was closed.

"Wow!" Frank said "This stuff all comes with the place." Frank noticed the closed door and felt drawn to it.

"Yep everything you see here"

"What's behind the closed door, a body?" Frank joked as he walked toward the door.

"I think it's the file room," Joe answered as he followed his brother across the room. Frank opened the door and grinned as he opened the door. Inside was a room a little larger then a closet with filing cabinets built right into the wall.

"Nancy will love this, look at all this space. We'll never run out of space." Frank's smile faded as his brother opened one of the drawers. Inside was hundreds of files. They were shoved in all directions and completely out of order.

"Oh, man this is going to take forever!" Joe complained as he pulled open another completely stuffed drawer. "Especially because you and Nancy are going to want to read every single stinking word!"

"Hey, you like going through all of Dad's old files." Frank answered as he turned toward Joe.

"I like going through Dad's files because he's my father and I know him. We don't even know these guys first name!"

"Okay, okay I get it." Frank rolled his eyes and continuded "Should I call Nancy?"

"Isn't she in class until 3 o'clock?" Joe asked.

"Oh yea, well I'll text her." Frank pulled out his phone and sent this message:

_Nancy-_

_Please call me!_

_Frank _

He hit the sent button and walked to the window. After about five minutes he thought _wonder what's taking her so long. _ Again he pulled out his phone and texted her this time the message said:

_Hello!!!! Are you there????_

Frank was about to text Nancy again when _Riiiiiiing! Riiiiin- _Frank picked up and said "That took long enough! What happened did you lose your phone again?"

"Sorry, I was in class!" she answered "What's up?"

"I think I found the perfect place!" Frank said and Joe protested, "Hey I was there to!"

"Yea," Frank answered "You were flirting with the real estate agent the whole time!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Guys," Nancy interrupted "Tell me more about the office!"

"Well, it has one big office space, a bathroom and a file room. Plus, it's already furnished." Frank responded. Joe was saying "It's on the 11th flood and it has great views and it has a room full of old files for us to clean out."

"What are the files from?" Nancy quarried.

"From the detective agency that was here about 5 years ago" Joe answered "That's what Heather said"

"Heather is the real estate agent." Frank cut in, "And Joe's newest girl friend."

Nancy laughed "Has the office been empty for all 5 years?"

"Yep, apparently the old owner just died and his family put up for sale. For a really good price too." Frank said "When are you coming up Nan?"

"On the 3 o'clock" Nancy answered "So I should get going."

"Okay, see you at the airport." Frank said

The 2 brothers looked around a few more minutes and then headed to the elevator. "Did you have to tell her I had a new girl friend?' Joe asked as they waited for the elevator.

"Ha, so you admit it!" Frank said as the 2 got on the elevator. Laughter echoed through the hallway but as the elevator doors closed silence filled the halls.

If they had stayed a few more seconds they might have seen the figure in black dart toward the 7th door with the green lettering. They might have seen him pick the lock to.

**REVIEW!!!!!! **


	3. The Airport

**I don't own anything!!!! Spoilers for **_**Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie! **_**Special thanks to Duckyumbrella,???????? Aka my friend Kat and KennaC!!!!! **

Nancy sighed. _This is the worst way to end a book; I mean how could Norman have done it? He was the only interesting one in the whole story! _Again Nancy sighed, _why is taking this plane so long, I really want to see the office…and Frank…and Joe. _ Nancy smiled and started to stand up when the captain's voice rang through the small plane.

"This is your captain speaking; we are just about to land at O'Hare airport. The weather in Chicago is 50 degrees with a 5 mile and hour breeze. Could everyone please sit down and buckle your seat belts?"

Nancy sat back down and started to fidget. She could hardly wait; the office sounded great and she was even looking forward to a weekend of sorting old files. Nancy looked out the window as the Chicago lights drew closer and closer the plane. The runway came into view and Nancy could hardly keep from jumping up and down like a 2 year old. The plane landed smoothly and Nancy almost ran to the exit. _Here we go! _She thought as she entered the terminal and started looking for her friends.

Frank Hardy looked around the giant airport. _How are ever going to find Nancy? _ He and Joe had arrived half an hour before 5 o'clock. Nancy had said she was going to be on the 3 o'clock and the 3 o'clock from Emerson College should be here any second. Frank sighed as he heard this announcement:

_The 3 o'clock commuter from Emerson College will be arriving at gate D in 15 minutes._

_Well now I know where to go. _Frank thought as he started toward gate D, _I sure hope Joe can find me._

Across the airport Joe could make out his 6'1 brother heading to gate D. _Guess I should follow him but, I think I'll leave him with Nan for a few minutes, _Joe grinned evilly and returned to doing what he did best; flirting.

Frank walked up to gate D just as the passengers were dismissed. Even with his tall build, Frank had to crane his neck to see over the groups of people. _Thank goodness Nancy has red hair! _A flash of red caught his eye. He turned just in time to see Nancy go in the opposite direction.

"Nancy!" Frank called across the terminal. The strawberry blond turned around and wove her way back to where he was standing.

"Frank!" Nancy smiled as she embraced the older Hardy who said "It's been to long" as he grabbed her hand and steered her through the crowd.

"It's only been a week!" Nancy protested but she smiled anyway. She liked how he had grabbed her hand, it seemed so natural.

Frank smiled, "A week to long!"

Nancy laughed and said "Where is Joe?" From behind her a voice said "Right here!"

Nancy smiled as the younger Hardy came up with a huge grin on his face, "Did you miss me?"

"I won't answer that on the grounds that it might incriminate me." Nancy grinned as the trio made their way out of the crowed airport.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Joe quickly tried side stepped Nancy's arm as she jokingly punched him. "Ow, what was that for!"

Nancy laughed "That was for you being you. If I were you I'd take that as a compliment." Frank laughed at his brother, "I'd watch those comments if I were you, you just never know what she'll do to you."

"You bet," Nancy answered, "So can we go see the offices?"

"Sure," Frank started but was cut of by Joe, "Can we eat first? Please, I am starving!"

Frank and Nancy looked at each other. They were thinking the exact same thing, _**NO!!!**__, _but out loud Nancy said "Whatever you want Joe, we can eat now."

"I don't care either way." Frank glared at his brother. "Okay, from the way you two are looking at me I think I could wait another hour." Joe said holding up his hands, "I give!"

And so it was settled, the trio hailed a taxi and Joe the driver the address.

To bad the detectives weren't paying closer attention. If they had been they would have seen the petite brunette open her cell phone, dial and say theses words to the person on the person on the other end: _"Their on the way!"_ They might have seen the black limo following them too. If they were only paying attention!

**A/N I know it's short and I know it's not **_**my **_**favorite chapter but the end is good… right???? Review!!!!!!!!!**

**~Striker**


	4. The Body

**Hi Striker here just wanted to thank y'all for reading my story! Thanks to Jamaica and Duckyumbrella for reviewing chapter 3!! I'm sorry about chapter 3. I know it was short but good things come in small packages! Well I know you really want to see the end so….. Here goes nothing! **

For the second time that day a cab containing the Hardy bothers pulled up to old office building. But this time the cab also contained a strawberry blonde.

"Well here we are," Joe said as he paid the cabbie, "Office sweet office!"

"Well, it seems like an office building, but sweet wasn't one of the many adjectives that came to mind." Nancy looked up and continued "But let's go and see it."

Frank laughed, "Don't worry, for once Joe is right. The inside is pretty nice."

"And there is a doorman! I mean how cool is that?" Joe commented

"I don't see a doorman," Nancy said as the three walked into the building.

"He's probably on a break." Joe answered as they headed for the elevator "Hey, the front desk lady is gone too. They must have group breaks here."

"Haha, Joe you are so funny!" Nancy rolled her eyes.

Frank pushed the elevator button "This elevator is really slow."

"Then I'm going up the stairs," Nancy said "I can't wait anymore!"

Joe smiled and tossed her the keys, "11th floor the only door with the green lettering."

"Okay I'll meet you up there." Nancy said over her shoulder as she headed for the stairs.

Nancy almost sprinted up the 11 flights of stairs. When she reached the 11 floor she was barely breathing hard. _I'm glad I'm in good shape because the rate of the elevator we'll be using the stairs a lot! _ Nancy soon found the door but just as she was about to put the key in the lock she heard voices _"I swear I…money …hey what the!" _ Suddenly there was a muffled BANG and a thump. Nancy looked down at the door. It was slightly ajar_. _Nancy slowly opened the door and walked inside.

The office looked just the way Frank and Joe had described it. The room she guessed to be the file room was wide open. As she walked to the door she gasped. On the floor face down was a man. A man who looked like he had been shot. And the puddle of blood proved Nancy was right.

Nancy took a step back. _The killer is still here I have to-. _She never got to finish that thought. Something heavy came crashing down on the back of the girl's skull. She crumpled to the carpet. The man in black quickly made his way to the door. He was halfway out the door when the elevator arrived. The man in black heard this and started running. That was a big mistake.

"That guy just ran out of our office!" Joe said "And-"

"And Nancy is in there!" Frank finished

The 2 brother ran to the office. At fist glance everything look normal but the arm sticking out of the doorway changed all that.

"Joe," Frank yelled "Go after that guy!" But Joe was already out in the hallway running at a dead sprint.

Frank ran to the file room. Slumped on the ground by the door was Nancy. On the other end of the room was an older man with a puddle of blood. Frank knelt down and gasped. Nancy's shoulder length was matted with blood. Her stillness frightened him. He gently shook her shoulder. A small groan escaped the girl's lips.

"The man he's…" Nancy said.

"Shh, there's nothing we can do for him. We have to worry about you," Frank helped Nancy sit up. "What happened?"

"I came upstairs and the door was open. I heard 2 people talking and then a muffled bang. I came in and the light was on in here. I ran here and was going over to him when something hit me on the back of the head. That's all I remember until now." Nancy gently rubbed the back of her head, "Man whoever hit me sure hits hard." She tried to laugh but it hurt too much.

Frank opened his mouth to say something when a slightly out of breath Joe walked in. "I lost him he had too much of a head start. Joe looked at Nancy and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yup I'm head headed, don't worry." The 3 detectives looked over at the dead man.

"Guess we should call the police." Frank said as he helped Nancy up, "And get you to a doctor."

"Frank," Nancy started, "I'm really fine." Frank pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and said "So you are still going to see a doctor!"

* * *

The police arrived 15 minutes later. After the removal of the body and all the question that followed, the 3 sleuths went up to the officer in charge, Detective Marko, and asked "Do you know who the wan was sir?"

"No id, no driver's license, or credit cars. He's a mystery." The short, oriental detective said. "It's a shame none of you got a look at the killer." Then turing to Nancy he said, "Could you tell if the killer was man or woman?"

"I only heard 2 people talking, I never saw the second person"

Joe cut in, "It was a man, the build, the speed, and the height were in no way, shape or form a woman."

"We're licensed private investigators and if there's anything we can do…" Frank started

Detective Marko smiled "I'll call you."

Nancy started to speak "We have all those files and I'm only here until Tuesday, when do you think we will be able to come back?"

"When the lab boys are done I'll call you, so probably hear from me on Sunday."

"Okay, thank you sir" Nancy said as she and the Hardy's made their way to the door.

"We have to get you to a doctor," Frank said as they headed to the elevator.

"No, I'm fine!" Nancy complained.

As the argument went on the 3 didn't notice the man leaning on 1 of the doors at the end of the hall. They didn't see him frown and slowly make his way down the stairs and make the call. "We have 3 more problems to get rid of."


	5. The Hospitalor Not and The Hotel

**A/N Hi again Striker here! Just wanted to welcome my friend CrAzY oRaNgE nInJa to fan fiction! Thanks to Maevainwen Adaniel fro reviewing!!! I have been getting comments about my spelling and grammar, I STINK AT SPELLING!!!!!!!!! If you see any mistakes feel free to tell me and I will try to fix them! Sorry if the spelling is taking a way from the story! Well anyways…. **

"I am not going to the hospital," Nancy said as she and the Hardys rode down the rickety elevator, "There are people there who really need help and I don't. All I need is a shower and a nice soft bed."

The elevator stopped at the lobby but as the doors opened Frank stepped in front of them and crossed his arms across his chest, "You are going to the hospital if we have to tie you up, duck tape your mouth shut and glue you to the exam table!" Joe laughed.

The laughter brought Nancy out of her reverie, _Boy, Frank has nice arms, so muscular…_

"No," Nancy said as she tried ducked under Frank's arms, "You can't make me!"

Frank grabbed Nancy around the waist and smiled, "Come on Joe help me get her to cab!"

Nancy was not happy, "I am really fine! I will scream MUGGERS if you two don't let me go!" Nancy struggled as the Hardys hailed a taxi.

"Go ahead and scream!" Frank laughed as Nancy opened her mouth to scream. Joe quickly put his hand over the girl's mouth. Almost as quickly Nancy bit him. Joe jumped back in pain.

"She bit me!!!!" Joe yelped in surprise, "I can't believe you just bit me!" he said addressing Nancy.

Nancy smiled, "Some how I don't feel at all bad for you. And obviously I am fine so can't we just go to the hotel?"

Just then a taxi drove up to the building. The three detectives climbed in the back. The cabbie turned around and smiled, "Well if it isn't big tipper and his tall friend. And who is this pretty girl? Oh and were to?"

Nancy answered "The Days Inn on Lake Shore Drive" **(A/N I really stayed at this hotel when I went to Chicago this summer! Good times, good times! §) **

"You got it miss!" The cabbie turned this attention to the busy road ahead. "Okay you win! We won't go to the hospital… today." Frank said.

"For the lat time I am fine." Nancy shook her head, "Come on let's just order in some great Chi-Town pizza and call it a night."

"Only if you promise to call us if you don't feel good." Joe said.

"Okay I promise. Look there's the hotel." The cab pulled up in front of a 10 story hotel. It was smaller then most but it had nice rooms and great views.

As the trio stepped out of the cab talking and laughing a short man in his early 60s was watching them from across the street. As the detectives went into the hotel he got up and walked to a phone booth. He picked up the phone and said, "I have an address." hung up and walked into the hotel. At the desk he said "Those young people who came in here are my nephews and niece. Could I get a room near them?" After registering he headed up to the eighth floor. _Easy surveillance. _ He smiled and unlocked the room next to his "niece."

**I know another short chapter but I like to end chapters when the trio changes locations! Today is a snow day and I might have another chapter on today, but don't get used to it. With school, homework and studying most of the chapters will come on the weekends! Please review!!!! Striker § **


	6. The Tail

**A/N Hi Hi Hi! Striker here! I'm sorry about the short chapter 5 but that's the way it rolls! Also incase you didn't see this in the end of chapter 5, IF YOU SEE ANY SPELLING OR GRAMMER MISTAKES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POINT THEM OUT!!!! I am not a good speller so I appreciate your comments! Thank you people!!!**

Nancy Drew looked out from under the covers in her soft hotel bed and out the large window in her hotel room. The sun was just rising over Lake Michigan. The sky was a rainbow of reds, oranges, pinks and blues. _What's that rhyme? _Nancy thought, _Red in the morning sailors take warning, red in the night sailors delight. Well its bond to be a day for bad weather and… _Suddenly Nancy remembered the events of yesterday's visit to the office. _I wonder if the police have figured out who the poor man was. And, oh man, what time was I going to meet the Hardys? _ Nancy rolled over to look at the clock, 7:45. _Okay I have plenty of time. _Nancy started to stand up when something taped to the mirror caught her attention. She quickly walked over to the mirror and pulled of a small piece of green paper. It read:

_This is your first and final warning, leave Chicago now or you might find yourself at the bottom of Lake Michigan!_

The message was written on a green piece of office paper. The top part of the paper was ripped off but a few letters were distensible: _S_ _ _el _ _ _ M_ _ _ _ _ _ _ t _ _ _ _ _s_

Nancy shook her head and quickly pulled on a pair of clean jeans, a blue t-shirt and a pair of Nike sneakers. She walked over to the phone that was on the night stand and dialed the brother's room, on the 4th ring a tired sounding Joe answered, "What?"

"Is that the way you are _supposed_ to answer the phone?" Nancy asked.

"When it's this early in the morning it is. No one important would be on the phone so…" Nancy could almost hear Joe smile.

"Are you two ready yet because we need to talk." Nancy said, and in answer to her question, "Yea we'll be there in five minutes."

"Okay, see ya in a few." Nancy hung up the phone. The strangest part of the note was how it got _into _her room. The door was locked and there were no connecting doors between suites so, some how the note leaver must have gotten in before she was here. _But, _Nancy thought, _we checked in and came right up. There was no way anyone could have known that we were coming to this hotel. How…_Nancy's thoughts were interrupted as acheery knock reverberated of the door. "Good morning Nancy!" The girl detective opened the door as the Hardys made their way in. "What's up Nan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine just a little… spooked I guess. This was taped to the mirror this morning." Nancy handed Frank the green paper. She could see the worry etched into his handsome features. "I have no idea how anyone got into the room," Nancy continued, "I don't really think I slept that soundly and the door was locked until I let you two in."

"Did you leave the room at all after we had dinner?" Frank asked as he looked up from the note.

"Nope, after you two left I took a shower and went right to bed." Nancy answered, "And another thing, the note says it's a warning but what am I being warned about? For once I'm not involved in any cases." Before either of the Hardys could answer the telephone rang. Nancy picked up the phone, "Hello? Oh, hi Detective Marko," Nancy paused and listened, "Sure sir, we'll be glad to. Okay I'll call you if I need any more information. Bye."

Nancy looked at the two brothers. "That was Detective Marko; He wants us to work on the murder of that poor man in our office."

Joe snorted, "That poor man was probably going to seal something!"

Frank shook his head, "That's maybe true but Nan, why do the police want us to work on the case?"

"They have no leads to his identity, his killer or even his reasons for being in our offices." Nancy shrugged.

"Then looks like we have a lot of work to do then." Frank said, "Let's go get something to eat and talk this thing out."

Nancy grabbed he jacket and keys and followed the brothers out the door. As they waited for the elevator Nancy said "I wasn't really paying attention yesterday, what is the name of the detective agency that had the offices before us?"

The elevator arrived and the three got on board. "Hmmmm…. I think it was _Slagel and McDean Detectives_." Frank said. Nancy openly gaped, "Are you positive?"

"Yea, what wrong?" Frank said.

"Well just one thing. In criminology we had a guest speaker. His name was Oscar McDean. And he said he was a desk sergeant not a private investigator. Plus I'd say he's about 80." The elevator stopped. Two slightly dazed brothers and a red head stepped out of the elevator.

"Are you-"Joe started but Nancy stopped him, "Shhh, that man is listing to our conversation." The tree walked quickly out of the hotel and down the street. "Lets split up," Frank said, "We can meet in the office in an hour."

"Okay" Nancy agreed. But, Joe wanted to know, "What about breakfast?"

"Go to breakfast Joe! Just lose that tail!!" Frank said as he went in the direction that the trio had just come from. Nancy went around the corner and Joe was then on his own!

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Frank brushed past the man who had been tailing them in the hotel. In the second that he brushed against the man, Frank picked his pocket. As soon as he was out of view he pulled out his phone and called Nancy, "Nan, he's coming your way!" he heard an "okay", but before he could continue Nancy hung up her phone. _I hope she's okay…_

* * *

Joe took his brother's suggestion. He headed in to a small restaurant and ordered a large breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, orange juice, the works. Joe looked up in time to see the man cross the street after a certain red-head. _Uh-oh _Joe thought _Better warn Nancy. _Joe pulled out his phone and sent this text:

_Nan u have a tail_

In reply all he got was a _k _he had lost sight of Nancy just as his breakfast arrived. _ Better not let this go to waste! _ Was his only thought as he dug in, _Nancy's smart, she can lose a simple tail. _

To bad Joe wasn't paying more attention to the direction Nancy was going. To bad Frank hadn't seen the holster that was strapped to the older man. It's just to bad…

**You like?? What will happen to Nancy?? Why is Joe always so hungry?? Who is the man with the gun?? The answers to theses and many more if you'd only review!!!! §**


	7. The Run and Yet Another Tail

**Well here's chapter 7!!! I can't believe I've gotten this far!!! WOW WOWWOW!!! Thanks to Duckyumbrella and Claire for reviewing! Well Claire, here is some Frank action for you!!!!!!!!**

Frank Hardy found a bench right next to Lake Michigan. The cool breeze didn't seem to faze the many joggers and bikers that passed him in both directions. The oldest Hardy opened the small, black, leather wallet he had pick pocketed from the short man. The inside was a true disappointment. _Five dollars and…wait, this looks interesting!_ Inside a secret compartment was a small piece of green paper. Before frank could get a closer look at it a gruff voice behind him said, "I think that belongs to my friend if I could have it back now…" Frank tried to turn his head so he could see the man's face but something small and circular pressed into his back, "I would if I were you Mr. Hardy. Just lift your hand over your head and hand me the wallet. Oh and that green paper too." Frank raised his hands but instead of doing what he was told he grabbed the man's wrist and flung him over his head. The man who was wearing a mask quickly lifted his gun and shot with a BANG! Frank grabbed the wallet and took off running. _Well here we go again!_

_

* * *

_Joe meanwhile had finished his large breakfast and started toward the office taking unnecessary road crossings and turns. He arrived at the office about 15 minutes late. _Oh, man Frank is going to be very unhappy with me! _ Joe took the stairs; as soon as he arrived at the door he knew something was wrong. First the door was locked; _you'd think they'd unlock the door. _ Joe unlocked door and walked inside. The office looks the same as when he, Nancy and Frank had left the night before._ Police tape: check, desks against the wall: check, window open: check, bathroom door closed: check-no wait the bathroom door was open yesterday! _Joe walked over and knocked on the door. The door swung open as soon as he touched it. _The fact of the matter was the only difference is that Frank and Nancy aren't here. _Joe sat at one of the desks and sighed, _it looks like I might be here a while…

* * *

_

Frank finally took a look behind him. He was sure no one had followed him but he ducked into an alley to catch his breath. _Well that wallet must be worth something to somebody. _He wondered what he was going to tell Detective Marko,_ I ummm, just borrowed it, _or _it he dropped it and well…_ that was going to have to wait. A man dressed in black just crossed the next street…

* * *

Joe Hardy sighed again and got up. He had sent his brother and Nancy about a dozen texts and none had been answered. Joe walked to the file room and opened the first drawer. He grabbed a stack of files and took them to "his" desk. He opened the first one and began reading.

* * *

Frank took a chance. He dashed out of the alley and right to the near L station **(A/n the 'L' are what the trains in Chicago are called) **Frank looked for one that was about to leave and jumped on just as the doors closed. He looked back just in time to see a figure in black shake his fist at the train. Frank couldn't help but laugh. _1 nothing, good guys!

* * *

_

Joe immersed himself in yet another file. _This might not be so bad after all…

* * *

_

Frank sprinted up all 11 flights of stairs. He ran down the hall and burst through the door slamming it behind him. "That took forever" were the first words out of Joe's mouth.

"Thanks little brother I really needed that." Frank collapsed into a chair, "Where's Nan?"

Joe looked at him, "What are you talking about? I thought she was with you!"

"What?!? Oh, great you mean we have a body, a threatening note, and a new office but no Nancy? That's great just great!!"

"What's great?" A voice said from the door.

"Nancy!" the brothers yelled as they jumped toward the door.

"Where were you?"

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Are those donuts?"

Nancy laughed, "One question at a time. I was all over, I didn't feel it vibrate and yes Joe there are donuts. But Joe, I saw you at a restaurant… Didn't you order?"

Joe grinned sheepishly, "Well yea but that was like, 2 hours ago!"

Frank rolled his eyes, "What happened where were you?"

Nancy flopped down in a chair, "I was everywhere, the museums, the Lake, the down town area, the L and a huge mall. I just couldn't loose that man!"

"Well how did you lose him?" Frank wanted to know as he grabbed a donut off Joe's finger.

"I went somewhere no self respecting man would never go." Nancy answered, "In the mall I went into _Victoria's Secret_!"

The two brothers howled with laughter, "_Vic-Vict- Victoria's Secret! _That's great Nan, _Victoria's Secret_!" The uncontrolled laughter went on for another few minutes. When it was all said and done all three detectives were wiping tears from their eyes. "Nan, I think that's the best way to lose anyone I've ever heard!" Nancy stood up and took a fake bow, "Thank you, thank you very much!"

Frank smiled, "Well now we know how to lose a man, let's get to work. We have files to look at, people to call and this new evidence to look at." Frank pulled out the wallet and the green paper. The letters _lag__ and _ cDean _De_ecives were clearly legible at the top of the fragment of paper. Nancy gasped in surprise, "that is the same paper that my waning note was written on!" The girl pulled out the paper. The two pieces of paper fit together to make this slogan at the top: _Slagel and McDean Detectives! _

The detectives had no way of knowing who was listing out side the door. No way at all…

**REVIEW!!!**


	8. The Professor and the Files

**A/N So sorry for the wait!! It's been a long week... science, math and spelling tests! And I think I failed science! Tear :'( … Oh well, here we are again are you all ready for chapter 8?!? I am so …**

The three detectives stared at the green paper. "The paper is from this office!" Joe exclaimed as he looked at the two matching pieces of paper, "That means the note leaver must have been here!"

Nancy frowned, "That means the killer…"

"Could have been in you room. And could have tried to kill you." Frank finished as anger clouded his features.

"It's possible but we know there are other people involved besides the killer." Nancy pulled open a desk drawer and found a sheet of paper, "Okay, lets make a list of the people we know are involved in this case." The list Nancy made looked something this:

_Man in Black: Probable Killer _

_Short Older Man w/ green paper: Probable note leaver _

"_John Doe": The body_

"It's not a very long list" Joe said, doubt heavy in his voice. Nancy glared at him, "Well at least its start."

Frank spoke for the first time since the list was started, "What about this McDean fellow, shouldn't he be on the list too?" Nancy nodded and wrote _Oscar McDean: Possible owner of S&M Detectives. _"Maybe you should try to call him Nan," Frank said, "Then we can ask him about body and the office."

Nancy smiled, "Good idea. I'll call Professor Farley and ask her for his phone number."

Nancy pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. The phone rang and rang until finally a cross sounding older woman picked up the phone.

"_Hello?"_

"Professor Farley? This is Nancy Drew…"

"_Oh, hello dear how are you? Enjoying the Windy City? Have you-" _

"Not to be rude Professor, I'd love to chat but, I need some information from you right away."

"_Oh, have you seen-"_

"Professor,"

"_Oh sorry dear, what information do you need? Weather, crime rate in Chicago, New York or L.A, or the most ordered meal at KFC?" _

"No Professor just a simple phone number…"

"_The White House, Papa John's, The FBI, CIA, the New York City Public Library, the Western Pig Bank of Northern Birmingham, New Mexico or-" _

"Something simpler then that-" Nancy glared at Joe who had been making faces at her.

"_Well dear, spit it out. I don't have all day!" _

Nancy tried to hide the impatience in her voice as the brothers tried to hold back their laughter, "I need the phone number of the man who spoke in class on Friday, Oscar McDean."

"_Well why didn't you say anything?" _ The line was silent for a few seconds before the Professor continued, _"Because I wouldn't let you that's why! As one gets older one tends to go on and on and on and on… There I did it again! Nancy dear whose number did you want?_

Nancy shook her head and smiled, "Sergeant Oscar McDean."

At the mention of Sergeant McDean's name the Professor sighed, _"Wasn't he dreamy? I mean," _the Professor quickly amended, _"The number is 418-224-0809" _

Nancy stifled a smile, "Thanks Professor Farley, I need to get going so-"

For what seemed to be the hundredth time Nancy was interrupted, _"Wish I could chat but, my little Pumpkin is due at the groomer in 30 minutes and I still need to get all her doggie toys together! She gets homesick so easily…so I must say toodle lou for now and sigh off…Oh but say hello to the Harbor Bothers for me!" _

Before Nancy could answer the eccentric professor hung up. Frank smiled and said, "You weren't kidding when you said that she was a little on the…odd side."

"Yea," Nancy nodded in agreement, "But she's a lot sharper then people give her credit for."

"If she's so "sharp" then why did she call us the Harbor brothers?" Joe wanted to know.

"Because she knew you were listening. You weren't exactly being quite you know."

Joe grinned and opened his mouth to speak, but Frank cut him off, "I really do hate to interrupt conversations, especially when they make my brother look dumb but, we have a suspect to call."

"He's not really a suspect, Frank. From the way Nan described him, there is no way in the world that he was the man in black or the tail." Joe said and again Nancy nodded her head.

"The only thing he is a suspect for," Nancy continued, "is being a co-owner of this office. But that doesn't fit in with what he told the class. He said that he had been a desk sergeant for 50 years, so he has to be at least 80 years old. But we don't know when this office opened."

Frank said, "Well are you sure he's so old? Maybe he just looked old…"

"So everything he said could have been a lie." Nancy said, "But I just don't think so…"

"I went through some of these newer files. The newest one I saw was about 3 years old. There was no mention of any names. I found that odd, the detective in charge of the case was "A" and the suspects were labeled D to Z."

"No names just letter?" Nancy said as Joe pulled out on of the files.

"Here," Joe said as he laid the folder on the desk, "Read this." Nancy and Frank read over a paragraph that looked something like this:

_A waited out side of location 6 for 3 hours. At that point D came out of the house and headed in the direction for Broad Street1. A followed D until location 51 where B took over. D went into a shady looking hotel and did not come out. We summarize that D escaped through a rear door or a fire escape. _

"Well, that's really descriptive." Frank's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Yea," Nancy agreed, "I wonder what would possess someone to write a case summery that way. Let alone let a suspect get a way so easily."

Frank reread the page again, "If we want to understand any of these files we're going to need a translator."

"But that's the strange part," Joe said, "The older files are normal. Names, places, dates, times it's all there."

"That's really strange." Nancy said as she picked up her cell phone, "looks like it's time to call Sgt. Oscar McDean!"

The trio wouldn't know how vital that the sergeant would be…they just couldn't.

**Good? Bad? Please Review!!!!!!**

**Plus here's a mind twister, the name**_**Slagel**__** is from one of the original blue hard cover books! Can you name it? I'll give you this one hint: It's somewhere between 1 and 18!!! Happy hunting!!!! **_


	9. The Body Gets a Name

**A/N Well I didn't think my mind twister would be solved so fast! Good job to **daisymall13**!!!!!You were right!! The Shore Road Mystery, #6! How did you guess?? I was hoping it would take a little longer…But anyways here's chapter 9…**

As Nancy started to dial the number Professor Farley had given her she said to the Hardy's, "I sure hope that he'll talk to me."

Before the two brothers could ask why, a gruff sounding man picked up the phone, _"_Hello?"

Nancy hit the speaker phone button and laid the phone on the desk, "Hello, Sergeant Oscar McDean?"

"If, you're trying to sell something, missy I ain't buying."

"No sir. My name is Nancy Drew. I was in the class that you spoke to on Friday, the criminology course at Emerson College."

The sergeant was silent for a few seconds as he tried to place Nancy's voice, "Oh you were the sassy red head weren't you? Miss I'm-Already-a-licensed-PI."

Nancy tried not smile as she answered, "Yep, that was me."

"Well what do you want?" If he had sounded remotely friendly before the man on the other end of the line now sounded extremely ticked off.

The brother's exchanged questioning looks as Nancy said, "Well sir I have a few questions-"

Before Nancy could finish her statement the older man interrupted, "Oh, I see your angle. You weren't paying attention and you have a test on my lecture! And you want a free condensed version! Well you're not going to get it Miss Drew so-"

Nancy cut him off, "No sir, it's not like that. As I said in class I'm a private investigator and my partners and I have recently purchased an office. An office that once held an detective agency called _Slagel and McDean Detectives_!"

There was an extremely long pause at the end of the line, "I need to go now Miss Drew."

"Wait!" Nancy cried out, "Is there somewhere that I could meet you?"

The gruff man gave a short and to the point answer, "Meet me tomorrow at the Yolk café on Lake Shore Drive. 8:30 AM sharp." Before the detectives could say anything else the man hung up.

"I guess he didn't really want to talk to us. I'll bet 5 bucks that he won't be there tomorrow." Joe said as Nancy thoughtfully closed her phone.

"I don't know, maybe he's just paranoid about having conversations on the phone." Nancy said as the dark haired brother spoke.

"Maybe he wants to make sure that we'll be out of the office tomorrow. If that's true then he'll meet us and his partner or partners will be here."

Nancy frowned and said, "I don't know…He just seemed like he was afraid to say anything. Like there was someone in the room with him."

The three detectives were lost in their own thought for a few seconds when suddenly Joe spoke out, "You know, everyone who has been in this office with out our permission has somehow turned up in the file room…"

"So…" Frank continued his brother's thought, "There must be something pretty special in there that someone doesn't want anyone else to find."

"Yea especially if they are willing to commit murder to cover their tracks." Nancy said as she looked out over Lake Michigan, "Maybe we should call Detective Marko and see if he's come up with anything about our "John Doe".

The brothers agreed and the strawberry blond pulled out her phone again. She dialed and put the phone on speaker. The deep voice of the short, oriental, detective came on the line, "Marko."

"Detective Marko, this Frank Hardy…"

"Oh hello, I was just going to give you a call, looks like we know who our John Doe is."

Three eager voices called out, "Who?"

You could almost hear the detective smile, "His name is, well was, Andrew Bolton. Alias Jonathan Green, Samuel Spade, Walt Primer, and let me tell you the list goes on for about 10 pages."

"So he had a record." Nancy stated as she shrugged her thin shoulders.

"Yep," The detective said as he popped his chewing gum, "Big time bank robber. He was wanted in Mississippi for a bank robbery."

"How much money was stolen?" Joe wanted to know.

"A million dollars. And, that million dollars is still missing"

The detectives gapped at each other. Nancy was the first to recover, "A million dollars that's still missing! You've got to be kidding!"

"Wish I was. In the Mississippi heist two guards were killed. So not only was the guy a lying, cheating scum of a bank robber he was a murder too."

"Then why was he in our office?" Frank asked.

"I have no idea; I'll leave that up to you to figure out." Came Detective Marko's simple reply.

Nancy said, "Is there anything else you can tell us about him? Did he have any regular partners in crime? Was he a loner? Do you know of any contacts he had here in Chicago?"

"I have no idea. We're having Rockview State Prison, where he served a 3 year sentence back in '98; send over some more information on him. Until then I've told you all I know."

"Thanks sir. You'll call us if you find out anything else?" Frank said.

"I will. Talk to you all later." With that Marko hung up.

"Nan did you say that one of the men in the office said something about money?" Frank slowly turned toward the girl.

Nancy slowly nodded, "I think they said, _'I swear I...money...hey what the!' _then there was the thump and you know the rest of story."

"That means Mr. Bolton had to have hidden the money somewhere in the city!" Joe exclaimed.

"Or," Ever practical Frank said, "He hid it somewhere between here and Mississippi. And our mysterious friend in black could have been his partner…"

"And," Nancy finished, "The answer to that is somewhere in all those files…Guess we should get busy!"

The detectives had no way of knowing what kind of adventure those files were going to take them on. None at all.

**Did you like it? I think it's pretty good! Please review and tell me what you think!**

**~Striker §**


	10. The Story and The Brunette

**A/N Hello world, Striker here…I am sooooo sorry for the long wait between chapters!! I have been really busy with school and I just couldn't find the time to update…I am on spring break so hopefully I will get a few chapters on this week!!! As always…**

Early Sunday morning found the three detectives walking down Lake Shore drive. "Tell me Frank, if we aren't meeting McDean until 8:30 why is it that we are walking toward a café that is five minutes away at 7:45?" Joe complained as the detectives neared the Yolk Café.

Frank rolled his eyes at his brother, "Duh, so we can see McDean when he enters the café and see if he meets anyone."

Joe continued grumbling as Nancy said, "Well, I can see who the morning person is here."

Joe glared and opened his mouth to say something just as Frank held his hand up for silence. Inside the café Oscar McDean was sitting at a corner table with a petite brunette. The two seemed to be having a very important discussion. The girl leaned against the table and even through the glass the trio could see the contempt in her eyes.

Outside the café the three detectives silently waited for McDean's guest to leave. About ten minutes before 8:30 the girl got up to leave. Nancy spoke with out taking her eyes off the brunette, "Maybe you two should follow her, I told McDean that I would meet him here, I really never mentioned you…"

"So we could follow her and McDean wouldn't know the difference." Frank easily finished Nancy's thought.

Joe nodded, "I'm game, let's do it!" The brunette came out the door and the brothers took off after her and Nancy headed into the café.

Frank and Joe were a good distance behind the brunette when Frank said, "I think that we should use Two-Man Surveillance, that way she won't get suspicious." Joe merely nodded and continued past his older brother. Frank stopped at a window, pretending to be interested in the display; _I wonder where she is going to take us.

* * *

_

Nancy sat down at the corner table at exactly 8:30 am, "Good morning Sgt. McDean."

The older man nodded and said, "Well Miss Drew let's get down to business. I don't have all day."

_When have I heard that before?_ Nancy thought, aloud she continued, "Sir, all I want is an answer to a simple question…Did you or did you not co-own Slagel and McDean Detectives?"

Nancy stared at the old man, really looking at him for the first time. The thick, gray hair on top of his head was probably at one time black or brown. He wore no glasses, implying that his vision was extremely good in his old age. There were the remnants of what looked like laugh lines around his eyes but, thick wrinkles now covered them. Nancy summarized that he must have been through some sort of tragedy. After what seemed like a century McDean answered, "No, I do not or did not ever own Slagel and McDean Detectives."

Nancy looked the older man in the eye, "But you know who owned it don't you?"

Oscar McDean nodded, "I'm guessing," he said as he looked up, "That you want to hear the whole story. Right?"

Nancy didn't even try to hide the smile that played on her lips, "You bet I want to hear it."

McDean looked down at his coffee, seeming to look for the answer somewhere in the dark brow liquid. He looked up and sighed, "Well…"

* * *

The brunette was leading Joe Hardy in circles. But, sadly the blonde detective hadn't figured it out yet.

* * *

"My son, Ed McDean, started the agency with his friend, Matt Slagel. Everything went well for the first five years but, then my son had the books audited. There was a large amount of money missing," The old man stopped, noticing Nancy had opened her mouth to ask a question.

"How much money was missing?"

McDean Looked up and said, "Over a half of the agency's profits, it totaled out to over 250,000 dollars. All the time my son thought he was making money he was losing it. The agency was pretty much bankrupt. Ed had it out with Slagel and the next day he was gone and so was the rest of the money. My son died of a broken heart. He put all the money he had in the world into that place, it was his life. He just gave up, Ed decide the world was against him." He looked at down at the table as a tear slipped down his cheek and splashed into his coffee.

Nancy placed a reassuring hand over his and said in a low comforting tone, "I know this is hard and if you don't want to share anymore that's fine, but, if you can think of anything else-"

Nancy was cut off by a familiar voice behind her, "You can call her." Nancy turned to see a slightly out of breath Frank standing behind her, "Nancy we really have to go." From the look on Frank's face the girl detective knew it must be important so she got up and tucked her blue chair under the table.

Nancy pulled out her card and laid it on the table, "Here's my number, sir. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me." McDean nodded and Nancy quickly followed Frank out of the café.

"Well, what's the rush? I had a feeling that he was going to tell me something really-" Nancy's complaining was cut short by Frank's words.

"Joe's missing."

"What!?" Nancy exclaimed, shock clear on her face.

"We were following the brunette using Two-Man Surveillance. Joe was first. I lost them at a busy intersection and I when I called Joe he started to pick up but it sounded like someone slammed the phone shut. After that, no one answered." Frank looked over at Nancy as she shook her head in disbelief.

"What could have happened? He's been following people since he started to walk…how could he have been so clumsy to get caught by a civilian?" Nancy's eyes opened wider as she thought about what she had just said, "Unless…"

"Unless she wasn't an ordinary civilian." Frank finished grimly, "Looks like Joe might have gotten himself into some serious trouble."

How could Frank know how right he was? Sadly, he couldn't.

**Do you like it? I thought we should have some Joe action!**

**Please press that little green button and review!!**

**~Striker §**


	11. The Great Chicago Slum

**A/N Hello my fellow fan fictioners….Is fictioners a word? *Shrugs shoulders* If it isn't it should be!! Haha! Well, let's get on with it!**

Joe Hardy groaned as he tried to sit up but, his body wouldn't obey him. He looked down at his feet. They were tied so tightly Joe wandered if they were attached to his ankles. Outside of the door he heard voices. He strained to hear the conversation but he only caught two words before he knew he had heard enough, _kill him_...

* * *

Nancy Drew stood at a busy, four way intersection. She looked at her companion and said, "Are you sure Joe went to the right? I thought you said you lost him up here. Plus that area looks a little…slummy."

Frank shrugged, "I'm sure he went this way. He followed the girl to the right and just as I was going to cross the street the light changed, a fleet of cars rushed by and I lost sight of Joe, they must have turned on to a side street."

Nancy looked at Frank, saying, "Well, it looks like we are about to see the great Chicago Slums."

* * *

Joe worked doggedly at his bonds. They seemed to be getting a tiny bit looser. _ I sure hope nobody sees the ropes are looser. I don't want the end to come any faster then it has to…

* * *

_

Nancy stepped closer to Frank as a toothless old man begged for money under the grimy L tracks, "Boy, Joe sure can pick the best spots to get…" Nancy didn't get to continue her statement. Three men, all wearing dark black sun glassed and expensive suits, appeared out of the alley and blocked the sidewalk.

The duo looked at each other and Frank spoke out, "If you guys could excuse us, we have an appointment to keep."

The tallest of the men took a step forward, "Well it looks like you're going to have to cancel that appointment, because you're coming with us." Nancy noted the man's southern accent and his holstered gun that she guessed it to be a Glock 17, the type of gun used in law enforcement. _Odd, why would a thug be carrying a police issued gun? Unless…

* * *

_

Joe had his bounds nearly loosened when the door of the tiny room opened. The figure of a woman was silhouetted against the bright light. "Well, well, it looks like our guest is awake. Would you like something to eat love?" _If words were honey, it would be overflowing from that woman's mouth_. Joe thought as he prepared himself for the things to come.

* * *

Frank took a step forward to meet the tall southerner, "This is a very important appointment, sorry but we can't miss it." With that Frank drove his hand into the tall man's stomach, "Run, Nan!"

But Nancy didn't run, instead she went after one of the other men. She grabbed his wrist as he started for his gun and used some judo her close friend, George Fayne, had taught her. Nancy took a step back, shifted her weight, and flung the very surprised man over her left shoulder. He landed with a loud thump and did not move. Nancy turned to help Frank with the third man but she was to late. He had Frank backed against the wall with his gun. _I was right, it is a Glock 17. _ The man holding gun spoke in a deep voice, "She said you'd put up a fight."

The man on the ground added his input, "And she sure wasn't kidding!"

The tall man Frank had punched agreed, "Heck yea."

Nancy spoke, "Who's 'she'?"

The three men's faces showed nothing, "You'll have to come with us and see now won't you?" The short one said in a nasally voice as he stood up and dusted off his suite.

* * *

Joe cautiously stood up from the bunk were he had been tied. The woman spoke again, "Aw, I see you also got your bonds untied, very good." Joe couldn't see the woman's face but he a sneaking suspicion that her hair was brown.

"What do you want with me?" Joe didn't even to attempt to hide the anger in his voice.

The woman ignored his question, "Are you hungry? I'll get you anything you want…breakfast, lunch or dinner?"

"No thanks I'm good." **(THE WORLD HAS STOPPED SPINNING, JOE HARDY ISN'T HUNGRY! *Striker agilely ducks as an irate reader hurls something heavy at her blonde head* Okay I get the point! Let's get back to the story…)**

"Alright, shall we talk somewhere more...?" The woman paused, as if searching for the right adjective.

"Private, homey, depressing, ugly, lighter, cozier, heck why don't we go to the Pizzeria down the road? I hear…" Joe stopped as the woman started toward him.

"Comfortable," The woman said with a coy smile as she turned and walked back toward the door, "Coming Mister Hardy?" She turned toward the door and Joe had no choice but to follow her…So that's what he did.

* * *

The men with the guns pointed straight a head, "Walk."

Frank and Nancy walked forward, "Their so pleasant aren't they Frank?" Nancy said as the group walked, "Your Aunt Gertrude would just have a field day with their amazing manners."

Frank couldn't help but smile, "So true. But, I think Hannah would have fun with their clothes, I mean just look at those wrinkled jackets, crooked ties, and scuffed shoes. Tsk, tsk!"

The comments were got the detectives a threat, "Shut up or I'll blow your heads off." So the detectives protected their heads and continued walking in silence.

* * *

The woman, who turned out to have brown hair, led Joe to a room that was anything but comfortable. The linoleum on the floor was a stained and peeling flora pattern. The light on the ceiling was full of decades of dead bugs. _They probably saw the paint color, _Joe thought as he looked at the half painted, half wall papered walls. The wall paper was blackish green color with what looked like spider images sprinkled unevenly over it. With a grimace Joe relished the spiders weren't part of the wall paper. The paint on the walls wasn't much better. It looked like who ever painted the room used left over paint from different projects; the paint was a strange mix of red, blue, green, orange, red, and black. The texture was lumpy, uneven, and just plain sloppy. _Whoever painted this must have painted it after he a beer...Okay maybe a six pack. _As Joe looked at the paint he changed his mind, _he must have a twelve pack! _In the center of the sea of linoleum was a rickety, wooden table with three unmatched chairs. One chair was green, one metal, and one only had three legs. The brunette motioned Joe to sit in the metal chair, "Sit, I will be right back." As soon as she exited the room Joe sprung toward the window. He quickly wiped away some of the dirt and looked out side. Joe frowned, he was about five stories up, and there was no way he was going to be able to jump down to the street with out breaking a leg…or two. The door started to rattle and Joe flew back and sat in the metal chair as the door opened.

Standing in the doorway, with three slightly disheveled thugs, was Nancy and Frank! They didn't say anything as they took chairs around the table. Nancy had the three legged chair and Frank had the green one. Nancy looked calm and Frank looked ticked off. The tallest thug said, "We'll be right back." And the thugs went back though the door to freedom.

"What are you guys doing here?" Joe asked as he looked intently at his older brother and Nancy.

"We were trying to find you but we got interrupted." Frank said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I wonder what they are going to do to us?"

Just then the door opened and the three thugs and the brunette walked back inside. Nancy smiled, "Oh, they won't hurt us."

The brunette looked at the girl, "How do you know?"

"Because," Nancy grinned, "You're Feds!"

Nancy was right, oh so very, very right. How did she ever know?? Because Miss Nancy Drew is a very observant girl!

**Well how was that? Personally, I think it is my favorite chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alas, the reviews for chapter 10 were a little skimpy but thanks to **AuSsIeGiRl13 **for reviewing!!!! Did you guys notice????? LONGEST CHAPTER YET!!!!!!! I am a very happy person!!!! Look for chapter 12 soon!!!**

**~Agent Striker §**


	12. The FBI Agents

**Howdy friends, Agent Striker here…Thanks to **inlo**,** **, and **KennaC **for reviewing!!!! I do love reviews!!!!!! Well I know that you are all ready and waiting for chapter twelve so…**

The brunette woman's mouth gapped slightly, then she smiled, "Very good Miss Drew…If I may ask, how did you guess that we worked for the government."

It was Nancy's turn to smile, "Well first it was the guns…Glock 17's are police or government issued. Secondly, it was the clothes, your thugs here," Nancy said as she motioned to the three men guarding the door, "They look like Feds. Lastly it was the 'I know more and have seen more then you ever have or will in you exceedingly dull lives' attitude…You guys really need an attitude adjustment." Nancy smiled as the thugs showed the smallest bit of discomfort.

The woman nodded, "You are more observant then even we suspected-"

Joe interrupted the two women, "First of all who is 'we'? Secondly, what do you want withy us?"

Frank finished his brother's questions, "Why did you kidnap us and bring us to this…"

"Slum?" Joe finished with a frustrated look on his face.

"Slum." Frank nodded and looked at the faces around him. His younger brother looked angry and frustrated**. **The thugs at the door looked smug, and as Nancy had said, a know-it-all attitude. Nancy's expression was blank, though a small smile played lightly on her lips. _Highly kissable looking lips, man, Nickerson was a true idiot to… _Frank cleared that thought from his mind, he had more important things to think about right now…The brunette woman's eyes showed slight anger and annoyance but her expression otherwise was blank.

Nancy looked toward the brunette, "Are you going to share your name or are we going to sit here in silence…?"

"Rachelle Circe, Special Agent with the F.B.I. And theses," she said pointing in turn to the thugs by the door, "Are Agents Doyle, McNeal, and Bigg."

The ever impatient Joe spoke, "You haven't answered the big question…What do you want with us?"

Agent Circe smiled again, "The government has something for you. You will find it at your place of business."

"What?!" Joe exclaimed, "You mean your thugs know me out, tied me up, left me in a closet, and kidnapped my brother and Nancy to tell us there's something waiting at OUR OFFICE?" Joe started to stand and the man known as Bigg came to the table and pushed him back down in his seat.

"Seriously, haven't you guys ever heard of a telephone?" Nancy questioned anger clear on her face.

Frank was just as angry as his brother and Nancy but he spoke calmly, "You've delivered you message. If you're finished we really have to go."

Agent Circe nodded and the thugs moved away from the door, "You may leave. We are finished with you three. Just don't leave town."

None of the three detectives answered. They stood up and walked out the door. The quickly headed down the rickety stairs and as soon as they got out side Nancy spoke, "We need to call Chief Burr. I don't trust Special Agent Rachelle Circe. She seems way to cocky, finding us wasn't to big of a mission. If she's that low on the totem pole…" She let the sentence hang in the early spring air.

Frank nodded, "If she's 'low on the totem pole' why did she get three muscle men? I agree that we should call Burr but first we should get out of here."

"I've seen enough of the Chicago Slums to last a life time." Joe agreed as the trio peed walked out of the slums.

If the detectives had been paying more attention to the action behind them and less attention to getting put the slum they might have seen Rachelle Circe watching them from the doorway. As soon as they were out of sight Rachelle Circe pulled of a brunette wig to reveal a head of red hair.

**Short I know, but a cliffie ending!!!!!!!!! I want to thank all my readers once again…you guys make me feel special!!!!! Alas, today is the final day of spring break :'(…Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!!!!!!!!!**

**Please press that little green button!!!!**

**~Agent Striker**

**P.S. For those of you that haven't read any of the Nancy Drew/ Hardy Boys SuperMysteries Burr appears as Special Agent Burr in the case ****Spies and Lies****…Just thought you might want know!**

**~Agent Striker**


	13. The Tree of Knowledge Cafe

**Hello fan fiction readers!!!!! I'm so sorry I didn't update this weekend but the weather was so nice I didn't want to stay inside! This week is our school's ITBS tests…it's a basic skills test and I have reduced classes and less homework!!!! More time to update, right? Well shall we continue? I think so…**

"I think that we should call Burr before we go to the office." Nancy said as the trio walked out of the slums.

"Why?" Joe queried as he glanced at Nancy. Whether or not they could see it, Joe could see his brother and Nancy walking a little closer with each step. _Finally!_

Joe's thoughts were interrupted by Nancy's answer, "If our government friends were at our office, they might have left something more then a package. They could have the whole area bugged."

The brothers nodded and Frank spoke, "Do you really think that they were with the government, Nan?"

Nancy shrugged her thin shoulders, "I really don't think so, but we've all run across people we would have never guessed were government agents."

Frank nodded as his brother spoke, "I don't trust those thugs. Government agents are supposed to be nice to civilians, right?"

Frank rolled his eyes, "I don't know…but really Joe that was a stupid comment."

Joe glared at his brother but before he could answer him, Nancy cut in, "Okay you two, you can knock it off now," Joe again tried to interrupt but, Nancy wasn't done speaking yet, "I need to get my laptop, it has Burr's number on it."

"Is it at the hotel?" Frank asked as he tried to ignore the looks his brother was shooting at him.

Nancy nodded, "You two don't have to come with me."

The older Hardy shook his head, "No way, we're going with you."

Joe nodded in agreement, "Yea, our friends might have forgotten something. We don't want you to get kidnapped," Joe paused as an evil grin spread across his face, "Or do we…?"

Nancy punched Joe's shoulder, "Hardy, if you weren't so much taller then me, I'd beat you to a pulp."

Joe grinned and said, "If you were taller then me you still couldn't beat me up. My coolness would block all your attempts to hurt me."

Frank rolled his eyes as the strawberry blond spoke, "Coolness, really? Is that even a word?"

Joe nodded and pulled out his phone and went to , "See?" Joe paused as he pushed his phone into Nancy's face, "Right there, six results."

Nancy grabbed the phone and scrolled down the page, "It refers to temperatures, you pud!"

Joe grabbed the phone back as the trio came into view of the hotel. Silently, Joe searched the internet as Nancy said, "You guys can wait here, and I'll be right back."

Joe nodded without saying anything but Frank said, "Okay, we'll be here." Nancy nodded and headed toward the elevator.

Frank went to the front desk, "Excuse me miss, my name is Frank Hardy, I'm staying in 833 and I was wondering if there were any messages for me."

The petite woman smiled and looked at the computer. Frank guessed her to be about thirty, she had bright red hair and brown eyes. _There was something odd about those eyes… _ The woman looked up from her computer, "I afraid there are no messages for you or your brother today."

Frank smiled and thanked the woman. As he headed over to where Joe sat fiddling with his phone he thought, _I didn't say anything about a brother… _Walking over to Joe, Frank asked, "What in the world are you doing?"

"Trying to find the real definition of coolness." Joe said without looking up.

Rolling his eyes the dark-haired detective said, "You won't find it, Nancy's right."

An annoyed glare met Frank as Joe spoke, "Of course you're on her side. You're head over heels in love with her."

Frank calmly spoke, "I think you're getting off topic, bro. All I sad was that Nan was right."

"Right about what?" A voice questioned from behind Frank.

Without looking over his shoulder Frank answered, "I said that you were right about the definition of coolness."

Frank turned just in time to see Nancy roll his eyes, "Oh, we're still on that, I thought we had already decided that I was right." Before either Hardy could answer, Nancy grabbed Joe's arm, pulled him up out of the chair then grabbed Frank's arm as well, "Come on, let's go grab some lunch and call Burr."

At the mention of food Joe perked up considerably and even put his phone away. As the threesome walked from their hotel, Nancy looked behind them uneasily. Frank noticed this and said in a concerned voice, "What's the matter? You keep looking behind us."

Before Nancy answered, she quickly checked around the group, "When I got off the elevator at my room, there was a man trying to get inside. When I confronted him, he looked at the room numbers and said 'Oh my, looks as if I'm at the wrong room!', then he went into the room next door."

The blond haired brother shrugged, "Maybe he was at the wrong door."

Nancy shook her head, "No, I don't think he was…He wasn't even putting the card into the card slot. He was trying to slide it down the side of the door."

"Now that is odd, did he say anything else to you?" Frank wanted to know.

Nancy shook her head, "No, but I did ask at the front desk if our mysterious man had a name but the lady said they couldn't give out personal information."

The taller Hardy nodded and said, "Did you see anything weird about the lady at the front desk?"

Nancy thought for a moment before she answered, "Well, her eyes seemed a little…odd."

"That's what I thought to! I just can't seem to put a finger on it." Frank smiled.

Joe looked across the street, "Hey how about eating there, it doesn't seem very busy."

The other two detectives nodded and Frank answered, "That looks like a good spot, we don't want to many people around when we call Burr."

The detectives crossed the busy Chicago street and entered into the little café. The Tree of Knowledge Café, as the place was called, had a slightly musty smell about it and hundreds of books lined the shelves along two walls. There was a long bar with multicolored chairs arranged in a random pattern and several small tables were scattered across the dark wood floors. Half a dozen booths were lined up along the poster-covered walls. The posters' topics ranged from books to women and there were even a few circus advertisements. There was one waitress sitting at the bar reading a think book, she looked up and smiled, "You can find a seat anywhere, just call when you're ready to order."

Nancy smiled at the pretty girl and the trio took a corner booth in the back of the restaurant. The seats of the booths were covered in colorful fabric and the seats themselves were very bouncy.

The trio slid into the seats and Joe quickly picked up a menu. Nancy smiled and followed suit. Frank glanced around quickly before picking up a menu. The long, thin menu had three different rows of entrees. The bottom half of the menu was filled with appetizers and the back had a long list of desserts and drinks.

"This is quite a menu. I think they have everything!" Nancy said as she flipped the menu over.

"This is my kind of place," Joe said with a smile, "Lots of food!"

Before Frank could comment, the waitress, who had been sitting at the bar came over, "Hi, My name is Bree, and I'll be your waitress today….Are you ready to order?"

Joe flashed a grin and Bree blushed, "You bet, I'll have a Coke and a pizza with cheese, sausage, pepperoni, and sardines."

Bree arched an eyebrow but said nothing. She then turned toward Nancy, "Umm, I'll have a coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich."

The waitress nodded the turned toward the older Hardy, "I'll have a hamburger and coffee."

The girl smiled, "Okay, I get this order in right away," Before she turned away Bree said, "Oh, feel free to browse the books."

The trio nodded and watched the waitress retreat toward the kitchen. The café was empty except for an elderly man hunched over the newspaper at one of the far tables. "Well, I think this is as good as a place as any to call Burr."

The brothers nodded as Nancy pulled her blue laptop from her canvas bag. She quickly turned it on and found Burr's number. Nancy dialed the number and waited silently as the phone rang. A computerized voice answered, _"With whom do you wish to speak?"_

"Chief Daniel Burr" Nancy answered.

The girl waited a few minutes before the voice of the chief F.B.I sounded over the line, _"Burr speaking. How can I help you Miss Drew?"_

Nancy smiled, "I didn't tell anyone my name…"

Nancy could see the older man smile, even over the phone, _"So you didn't Miss Drew…That's just another F.B.I secret."_

"Okay, I won't ask…Do you remember the Hardy brothers sir?" Nancy asked.

"_Yes, they were the boys who trying to catch a corrupt agent when you were in Quantico."_

"Yep, that's them…Today we were kidnapped by four people claming to be agents but…"

"_Do you have their names?" _

"Yes, the main agent was Rachelle Circe and on the others I just have last names, Doyle, McNeal, and Bigg."

There was silence on the end of the line for a good five minutes before Burr answered, _"We don't have any agents by those names Nancy, they must have been imposters."_

Nancy nodded, "That's what we suspected…thanks for taking the time to talk to us."

"_Anytime Nancy, I need to get going but if you need anything else you can call."_

Nancy said she would, then hung up. The girl turned toward the brothers as Bree brought the food. The trios ate in gusto and discussed the new lead. They didn't see the old man get up and walk toward the phone. They didn't see him pick the phone and dial a number he knew by heart. They didn't hear his words either… "We've been found out."

**Do you like???? I really think should tell me!!! So review like **Happy Horseback**, **Vee22**, **Nancy Hardy**, and **KennaC** did!!! Did you guys see??? NEW LONGEST CHAPTER!!!!!!! I am a happy pappy people!!!! Hahaha!!!!**

**~Agent Striker**


	14. The Big BANG!

**Striker here with an apology….I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG UPDATE TIME!!! I was over my 15 document limit and I had to figure out how to resolve that and my horse Masota died at age 28…This chapter is in her memory and I wouldn't be apposed to anyone remembering her in their prayers…**

After the trio had finished at the Tree of Knowledge Café they headed back to their office. "I think we need to walk off that great meal." Nancy said with a smile.

Frank nodded in agreement but Joe complained, "Aw do we have to? It's like a mile back to the office!"

"Yep, we do." Frank said.

The trio continued walking as Joe sulked. Frank and Nancy excitedly discussed plans for the detective agency as Joe trailed slightly behind them. Nancy was dressed in a light pair of jeans with a rip in the knee. She had a robin egg blue jacket on laid on her computer bad and she was wearing a white t-shirt with black magnifying glass on it. Nancy had gotten the shirt from her best friends the year before as a joke but, Nancy really liked it. Frank was also wearing white but, his t-shirt had Life Guard written across it and there was a red cross under the lettering. Frank had hid hands in the pockets of his dark jeans and his head was angled slightly downward as he and Nancy conversed.

Joe smiled as Frank and Nancy laughed at something the girl had said. He hadn't seen his older brother so happy since…since his longtime girlfriend, Callie Shaw, had broken up with him. Joe had never really liked Callie, she was bossy and always had to have her way. For a reason Joe couldn't figure out, Frank had taken their breakup really hard. Callie had called Frank the day after Nancy had suggested starting the detective agency. She was mad that the brothers had agreed to be Nancy's partners. She had always resented the fact the trio had always worked so well together. She had stated more then once that she hated Nancy but, Frank ignored her. Joe looked up and realized that they had finally reached the office.

Frank held the dirty glass door open for his brother and Nancy. It seemed the door man was again on a break. The woman at the front desk was also missing. Nancy pressed the up button on the elevator, "Where is everyone?"

Frank shrugged "I guess they don't work on Sundays." Joe nodded in agreement.

The elevator creaked to a stop and the doors opened. The trio stepped in and Joe pressed the eleventh button. The doors creaked shut and the elevator trudged up to the eleventh floor.

The group arrived at their office and Nancy unlocked the door. Right away they could see something was wrong. The desk drawers were open and the files they had read through were scattered on the floor. The file room was in shambles, all the drawers were pulled out as far as they would go and the files were in even more disarray. Nancy opened her mouth to speak but Frank put his hand up for silence. Nancy, Joe and Frank listened intently. Shock registered on all three detectives' faces at the same time…They had all heard the faint ticking.

The detectives scattered as Frank yelled, "It must be a bomb, and we have to find it!"

Joe headed for the file room and Frank headed for the bathroom. Nancy quickly searched the three desks. Silence filled the room when suddenly Nancy cried out, "I found it, and it's in my desk!"

Frank rushed to Nancy's side, as did Joe, "We have to get it out of here! It's going to blow the top of this building off! How much time is left?"

Nancy quickly pulled the black, ticking, box out of her desk. Set in the middle of the box was a little digital clock. The numbers read **00:00: 20**.Nancy gasped, "We'll never be able to get it out of here! We have to…"

Nancy glanced at the window as Frank finished her thought, "The window! We'll have to throw it out the window!"

Joe sprinted to the window and tried to pull it open, "It's sealed shut, and we're so high up… How much longer, Nan?"

Nancy looked at the clock, "Fourteen seconds!!! Joe the chair, you have to break the glass!"

Joe and Frank each grabbed a chair and swung with all their might. Just when it seemed the glass wasn't going to break, Joe hit the window again and the glass shattered. Nancy flung the bomb out the window and the trio dove for cover. There was a huge explosion and the entire building shook. Nancy was the first to the window. There was black debris floating down to the street below and already sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Looks like we are making somebody worried." Frank said as he and Joe came up behind Nancy. Nancy nodded and the trio headed downstairs.

Little did they know how nervous they were making people. They had no clue.

**Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks to **alyssa**, **KennaC**, and **ndhbfan** for reviewing chapter 13!!!!**

**God bless Masota!**

**~Agent Striker**


	15. The Answer

**Alas, the next chapter of Missing Files…The tension keeps building and suspense is killing you…Right? I know, I know, you just want to get on with the story…so here we go…**

Joe and Frank Hardy stood tall behind Nancy who sat in a metal chair downtown in the Chicago police department. Detective Marko was hunched over cluttered with reports, newspapers, and even empty coffee cups. Nancy wrinkled her nose in disgust and thought, _Hannah would have a fit! And…_Nancy's daydreaming was cut short as a question pulled her back to the real world, "Miss Drew, are you sure there isn't anything else that you can tell us about the bomb?" The detective looked tired and frazzled although it was only 4:30 in the afternoon.

For what seemed like the millionth time Nancy recapped the design of the bomb, "It was a small, square, black box with a digital timer set into the center."

The older detective asked again, "Are you positive?"

Frank could see the murderous look Nancy's eye so he spoke up, "Detective, she really didn't hold it that long, when it was found, the timer only had twenty seconds left…"

Joe finished his brother's statement, "And by the time we broke the window and threw it outside there had to be only a few seconds left. It wasn't like she was going to take a peek inside to find a manufacture's name."

The detective nodded tiredly, "Okay then, if you three can sign your statements you're free to go."

The trio quickly signed the statement and left the police station. As soon as they were outside Frank spoke, "That took long enough."

Nancy nodded mutely and Joe agreed, "Yea I think they must have asked us about that stupid bomb fifty times."

"More like a few billion times." Nancy grumbled as the trio pushed through the thick crowds of people milling around on the beautiful spring day.

Frank laughed and put his arm around her shoulders, "Come on, lets go back to the hotel and you freshen up then we can go find something to do."

Nancy grudgingly agreed but said, "I already know what I want to do."

"What?" Frank asked as the hotel came into view.

"Look through those files, I leave Monday night."

Frank shrugged his shoulders as Joe groaned, "Aw, do we have to? That's what we've been doing all weekend!"

Nancy turned to the younger Hardy as the trio entered the deserted hotel lobby, "If you don't want to help…"

"I'll help, I'll help! Geeze, is there no room for fun around here?" Joe asked as Nancy socked his arm. Nancy didn't bother to answer as they headed for the speedy elevator.

When Nancy, Frank and Joe reached their floor, the girl detective turned toward the brothers, "I'll meet you two here in 5 minutes."

The brothers nodded and headed one way down the hall while Nancy headed the other. Nancy reached in to her pocket and pulled out the room key out of her back pocket. She slid the credit card-like key into the lock and pulled open the door as the little green light shown. Nancy headed right to the bathroom. She picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her shoulder length hair. Just as she finished reapplying her light make up a noise made the girl spin around. Nancy gasped as a figure, clad in black, sprung from the shower. The girl tried to fight the burly figure but she was no mach for his brute strength. Nancy struggled as the man hissed into her ear, "I warned you not to meddle, looks like you're going on a trip…to the bottom of Lake Michigan. And alas, you couldn't even find a million dollars hidden in your own office." Before Nancy could reply, the man's hand came crashing down on her neck and everything went black.

Frank and Joe waited impatiently at the elevator. "What's taking Nan so long?" Joe grumbled.

Frank shook his head, "I don't know. I'll go find her."

Frank turned down the hall way as Jo mumbled under his breath, "Of course."

Frank reached to knock on the girl's door as he answered his brother, "I can hear you-"

Before Frank could finish, an arm flew out the door and hit him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain as his assailant caught his foot be hind his knees and brought him to the ground. Frank vaguely heard the man run down the hall with his brother hot on his heals. Frank managed to stand up and he leaned heavily on the door frame. He was still standing like that when he heard a thump and some very un-lady like cussing coming from the hotel room. His eyes sprang open as he remembered Nancy. Pain forgotten, Frank ran into the room. Lying on the floor tied up and with a gag around her neck. Frank quickly knelt by the girl, "What happened? Who-"

Nancy interrupted, "Never mind that, we have to get to the office. NOW!"

Frank quickly untied and Nancy and asked, "Why?"

Nancy sprung up and headed toward the door and Frank followed, "I think this case just got busted wide open, by the crook himself."

Frank glanced at the girl as Joe busted through the door, "He got away-"

Nancy cut him off, "Later come on we have to get to the office. Now."

The two brothers asked no questions as they ran for the elevator. They sprinted through the lobby no noticing the clerk with red hair. As soon as the trio was out of site, the woman picked up the phone and dialed a number she knew by heart, letting the man on the other end of the line know the trio was on the way, "Watch your back."

**Well here's the low down, I'm sorry for the long update time, I've been busy.**

**Second, I think this story is going to be finished in two more chapters, three at the most!!!!!**

**Please review and thanks for reading, **

**Agent Striker **


	16. The End

**Hello again!!!!!! Thanks to **ndhbfan **and **KennaC **for reviewing chapter 15!!** **And although I have been forgetting to say this…I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!!!! Tear :'( Shall we get started? **

As soon as the trio had gotten a taxi Nancy had given the drive the building's address adding, "Step on it."

The taxi driver was a good one, getting the trio to the office in less then fifteen minutes. Nancy, Frank and Joe catapulted from the taxi; fling a twenty toward the driver. Nancy, leading the way, sprinted toward the stairs past the old woman at the front desk, as Joe called out, "What's going on?"

Over her shoulder Nancy flung her answer, "I think I know what the mystery is behind the killings and missing money, and the answers are upstairs."

Joe grinned and put on another burst of speed and the group flew up the stairs. At the top Nancy stopped and turned toward the brothers, "When I got to my hotel room there was someone wait for me. As he was trying to tie me, he said something about us not being able to find the lost million dollars, in our _own _office."

Joe's mouth gapped open, "You mean there's a million dollars somewhere in our office?"

Nancy nodded as Frank spoke, "I have a hunch where it might be…"

The trio huddled together as they came up with a plan. The detectives shook hands and Nancy made her way out of the stair well. Nancy reached the door with the two brothers following closely behind her. When Joe reached for the door handle Frank motioned him to stop. Frank put his ear to the door then looked at his companions, "Sounds like there are three people inside…"

"And it sounds like they're in the file room," Nancy finished with a whisper.

Frank nodded, "Who votes we go and get them? We're evenly matched."

Joe grinned enthusiastically (or evilly as the case may be) but Nancy queried, "Are you sure we shouldn't call-"

Before Nancy could finish there was a noise like a jack hammer coming from inside the office. The brothers looked at Nancy who just shook her head and reached for the door knob.

The girl slowly turned the knob and pushed the door inward. Faster then lightning, the trio was inside the office with the door again closed. With her back to them, was a short petite brunette. Joe looked over at Nancy and Frank, mouthing _Rachelle Circe! _Nancy nodded and she moved closer toward the door. The probable jack hammer stopped and Circe spoke to someone inside, "Well, anything?"

Whoever was inside must have shaken their head causing Circe to yell angrily, "We don't have all day! After all, you didn't dispose of any of our problems, you just added to them!"

A quieter man's voice spoke, "Calm down, we have plenty of time; those kids are to naïve to guess where the money is. Andy may have been a little slow in the crime department, but he could sure hid money, even as a kid-"

"Stuff it Harry, I don't care about your brother's childhood. We've got stuff to do, people to see, places to go," Circe sneered, "Get back it Matt."

The hammering resumed and the three detectives looked at each other. All three had come up with the same conclusion.

Frank moved closer to his brother and Nancy spoke quickly, "Looks like we're going surprise them," Joe and Nancy nodded as Frank continued, "Nan, you grab Circe, Joe you get this 'Harry' fellow and I'll get the guy with the jack hammer, 'Matt'."

All three nodded in agreement, and then advanced toward the door. Suddenly the noise stopped and 'Matt' spoke, "God, this is hard work. Hey Harry, go get me something to drink from the vending machine."

There was a short pause then 'Harry' spoke, "I don't think so…"

"I told you to-" The angry voice stopped and the detectives crept closer. Nancy was the closest and Frank signaled the girl to take a closer look. She nodded and craned her neck over the file cabinet that had been moved out of the file room. What she saw made her gape openly. There was an old, dirty jack hammer lying beside a hole that looked about three feet by four feet. The carpet as well as the particle board was lying in a heap toward the back of the room. 'Matt' had apparently been jack hammer to dig through several inches of concrete. Circe was leaning against the wall closest to the door with an angry/amused smirk on her face. A tall, fair haired man, who looked to be in late 30s, stood just behind the jack hammer with a look of anger tinged with fear. Nancy shifted her position slightly to see the corner to the right of Circe. She was shocked to see a short, older man holding a shiny, new looking gun. "Those kids maybe naïve but they are as stupid as you two, you really believed that I was going to split the million with you?" As Harry continued, Nancy glanced over at the brothers who where almost salivating for information, "Get back to work Matt, I've been waiting a long time for this money."

Nancy, using her thumb and index finger made a 'gun'. Frank nodded and the brothers moved toward the door. When they reached the side opposite side of the door, Frank held up three fingers and slowly counted down. _Three, Two_, Nancy wildly moved shook her head and Frank stopped. He flashed her a look but Nancy didn't have time to answer. Harry was slowly backing out of the file room with his gun trained on the duo inside, "Now, I'm just going to lock this door and let you two do all the work-"

With a cry of "_ONE_!" Joe flung himself on the small man. For his size, Harry had power. As Joe struggled, Circe tried to shove past Nancy, but the girl was ready for her. Nancy grabbed Circe's right arm and yanked it back, bring the older woman to her knees. Frank meanwhile was getting a run for his money. Matt was strong, tall and scared, adrenalin seemed to be giving him an extra boost, but Frank wasn't giving up so easily. With a grunt, Frank sent Matt reeling into the jack hammered hole. With a sickening thump, Matt's head hit a piece of particle board and he lay still. Just as Frank started over to the fallen man a short rang out, followed by a scream from Nancy, "_Joe_!"

Forgetting the man on the floor, Frank fairly flew to the door. In the main office way, his brother was down on one knee leaning over the prone figure of Harry. Joe turned toward his brother with a pale face, "I…I think he's…the gun just went off…"

Frank leaned over the man with his hand on his younger brother's shoulder, "It's alright, he's still breathing…"

Joe nodded but he still looked pale. Nancy spoke quietly from the floor where she was holding Circe, "Someone should call the police and an ambulance-"

Before Nancy could finish, the office door was thrown open a Detective Marko stormed in followed by several officers, paramedics and the lady from the front desk. All three detectives gapped and Frank asked as he stood up and moved back from Harry, pulling his brother with him, "What the-? How did you-?"

"Your landlady saw you three fly up the stairs and heard the shot. When I heard the address we got here as fast as we could," The detective answered. Turning his attention to the man on the floor he asked, "What happened?"

Joe's color had gotten much better as the medics took care of the injured man and he answered, "We were struggling for the gun and it went off…"

"It wasn't Joe fault. I saw it," Nancy said as she pushed Circe with her free hand, "She saw it too, right _Special Agent _Circe?"

Circe sullenly refused to answer and Marko spoke, "_Special Agent_? As in CIA or FBI or the Secret Service?"

Nancy shook her head, "She says FBI, but she's lying."

There was a moan from the file room and Frank swore under his breath, "There's a guy in there too."

Marko raised an eyebrow but said nothing. As two of his officers brought out the Matt Marko asked, "Now that we have all those parties involved can we please have an explanation?"

Nancy nodded and the trio launched into the story of the messages, the bomb, the notes, the threat, the attempted kidnapping and finally the shooting. After they were done the room was draped silence. After a few minutes Detective Marko spoke, "That explains how you got here, but who are theses characters?"

Nancy smiled, "That's the easy part." 

Frank nodded and he pointed to 'Matt', "That's Matt Slagel, former owner of this agency."

"That's Harry Bolton, brother of Andrew Bolton, bank robber. He probably helped planned the heist in Mississippi." Joe said.

"Slagel was most likely the muscle of the operation and he murdered Andrew Bolton when he came back to retrieve the money, but it sounded like Harry was in on the murder as well."

Marko nodded then looked at Circe, "Okay we've got two-thirds of them taken care of, but what about the girl?"

It was Nancy's turn to smile, "Aw, the mysterious Special Agent Rachelle Circe. She claimed to be from the FBI as I said earlier, but the chief has never heard of her. I suspect that she's Matt's girlfriend and helped plan the heist with Harry."

Marko was silent as he took in all the information, "Okay then," he said turning to the prisons, "What do you have to say?"

Circe and Harry remained silent; one in denial and the other in anger, but Matt was ready to talk, "Your right about everything, Harry and Rachelle planed the capper while Andy and I pulled it off. Harry had me believing that he only wanted to spilt the money three ways, but as you might have heard," Matt continued, shooting Harry a dirt look, "He had only planned on sharing it one way."

Joe nodded, "So he sent you to kill his brother when he came back here to get the money?"

Matt nodded, "Harry had me following Andy, he was sure he was going to split with the money early."

Nancy had been silent but she now spoke, "We know that the money is in the file room, but why were you jack hammering the floor?"

Matt shrugged, "I hired Andy after the heist to put in the file cabinets, we need a way to hide the money somewhere so legit that the cops would never thing to look. Since I had no direct ties to Andy, the office was a great place."

"Your partner, Ed McDean, had no idea that the money was under the floor?" Joe asked.

Circe snorted but Matt continued the story, "Naw, Ed was way to into 'crime solving'. He had nothing to do with the robbery."

"Yea, he had no idea the money was under the floor, because it wasn't. That double crossing rat stowed it somewhere else." Circe sneered.

Matt remained silent and Nancy spoke addressing Circe, "You were the lady at the front desk, with the red hair, right?"

Circe shrugged, "What if I was?"

Turning toward the somewhat coherent Harry, "You were the note leaver, who was in the room next door. You also followed me all over the city, didn't you?"

Harry nodded but said nothing. Nancy looked at her partners and smiled, "Although the money isn't in the floor, I have a feeling I know where it is."

The brothers nodded and the crooks gaped. Nancy and the bothers, followed by the police and the prisoners, headed into the file room. Nancy yanked the first drawer out with the help of the Hardys, and felt around the top of the inside of the cabinet. The girl smiled as she found an A shaped button. She took a deep breath and pushed it. The file cabinets slowly started to move upward. Three openings in the ceiling became visible, each one housing a rope and pulley. Everyone in the room gasped as a small, hidden room became visible. Inside were a dozen or so tan bags, tied up and marked 'Mississippi Federal Bank'. Frank took a step forward as the pulleys stopped moving, followed closely by his brother and Nancy. He picked up one of the bags and pulled it open. Inside was thousands of dollars. Looking up he said, "Well, looks like we found the money."

Nancy laughed, "Looks like it."

From the gurney, Harry angrily spat his words, "That double crossing piece of dirt! How could he do this to his own brother?"

Joe turned on him, anger clear in his blue eyes, "The same way you could have him murdered." Without another word, Marko signaled the paramedics to go and the other offices followed with the prisoners.

Turning to one of the other officers Marko said, "One of you guys call for an armored car, the others start getting this out of here. We can get in touch with the Mississippi authorities from the station." The men nodded and set to work, turning to the young detectives Marko smiled, "Good job you three. I really didn't think you could handle a case this size."

The trio grinned and Frank spoke for them all, "Thanks Detective, we're just glad to bring criminals to justice."

Marko laughed, "Yea I'm sure you are. Now I have to check on this, but if memory serves me right, there's a reward for the finding of this money."

"How much?" Joe asked excitedly.

Nancy elbowed him but said nothing. Marko smiled again and said, "Ten present."

"That's a hundred thousand dollars." Nancy said slowly, "That will cover almost all of the asking price…"

"And the insurance will cover the damages…" Frank finished.

"So there won't be anything left over?" Joe asked glumly.

"No," Nancy smiled, "But you hardly have to pay anything out of pocket for the office space."

"Oh well," Joe sighed, "At least I'll be able to say I saw a million dollars."

Frank, Nancy and Marko laughed. "You sure will, Joe. You'll also be able to tell all you friends that I found the secret room." Nancy said.

"And I knocked a guy out with a punch and a push." Frank laughed.

Joe rolled his eyes as he followed Marko, Nancy and Frank out of the room. The outside world may have been changed, for the better he hoped, but his word hadn't changed a bit.

**Well here you are. The end! Did you like it?? I would again like to thank EVERONE who reviewed, added me to their favorite authors, or even just added the story to story alert. It really means a lot to me!! I am going to start my own 'series' following this story…I don't know when, but I have a bunch of great ideas…So don't forget to check back often and if your interested, I am starting a Gallagher Girls Heist Society crossover story called ****Cammie Morgan: On the Run****.**

**So until next time,**

**Agent Striker**


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